🍉 VanGran4Pal Community Newsletter

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**Neighbours and Friends, **

This week we want to discuss a couple of important moments that unfolded and gave us optimism in the steadfastness and growth of public support for Palestine, even in the face of extreme media and political bias. Let’s get into it.

Firstly, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, released a report exposing the corporate forces behind the destruction of Palestine. This report names companies and then explicitly states that these corporate entities can be held legally responsible for their involvement in Israel’s genocide. In spite of western media outlets (specifically the BBC) doing a backwards job of reporting on it, it’s been hotly discussed and other outlets, even mainstream ones such as the Guardian, have done much more thorough analysis. We’ve already seen the power of boycotts and now we hope to see the power of criminal conviction threats: already, on Monday, Norway’s biggest pension fund announced it would no longer do business with two companies – the Oshkosh Corporation in the US and ThyssenKrupp in Germany – because they sell equipment to the Israeli military that could be being used in Gaza. Just Peace Advocates have summarised the report and highlighted the naming of a Quebec pension fund for its complicity; there will be increased opportunities to call on these funds for divestment in light of this report. Here’s one such petition you can sign right now, calling on the Ontario pension plan to divest. Watch this space as we will share more that we find in coming weeks!

In other news, the UK just held Glastonbury festival, where there were strong displays of Palestinian support onstage from acts including Kneecap and Bob Vylan. Thousands upon thousands of people joined chants for Free Palestine; Palestinian flags flew in the crowds; TikTok viewings of the festival skyrocketed where BBC had censored the live stream for fear of pro-Palestinian sentiment. It was a huge display of the majority public sentiment, especially amongst the younger generations, where there is strong sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Post-festival, UK politicians and mainstream media have pushed extremely hard to frame anti-IDF chants as antisemitic and to call for sackings, criminal convictions, and so on. The public do not seem to be falling for it. Comments on news articles call out the fatigue of pro-Israel bias, with ‘we’re not buying it anymore’ becoming the catch phrase of a generation. Protests continue with growing numbers in spite of ever-growing suppression tactics. Being openly pro-Palestinian feels less lonely or radical than ever before. So show your community where you stand: wear your t-shirts and buttons and keffiyehs, show up to protests, put up your peace signs. We continue to fight!

Action Updates

Condemn Carney’s Call for “Zionist Palestinian State”

Recently Mark Carney said Canada would only accept a “Zionist Palestinian state”. What did Carney mean when he said Canada would only accept a “Zionist Palestinian state”? In a recent interview Prime Minister Carney told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour “what’s needed is a Zionist Palestinian state”. Did he mean he would only recognize a Palestinian state designed to serve Israel’s interests? Is he calling for a neutered, dependent, Palestine? Why would he make recognizing Palestinians’ inherent right to self determination based on their accepting the supremacist ideology that has dispossessed them?

As Craig Mokhiber noted in response to your comment, “calling for a ‘Zionist Palestinian state’ is like calling for a ‘Nicotine-based cure for cancer’ or a ‘Ku klux klan civil rights bill.’ No to cancer, no to Klan, no to Zionism, and no to Carney.”

Please take a minute to email the Prime Minister to condemn his racist comment.

Petitions to the Government of Canada

Petition e-6619 calling to urgently deploy peacekeeping forces to Gaza for the protection of civilians, to support the delivery of humanitarian aid, and to uphold Canada’s commitment to international humanitarian law and the responsibility to protect vulnerable populations.

Petition e-6581calling to suspend the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement until the Government of Canada has certitude that the Israeli government is no longer acting in violation of international laws with its deliberate blockade.

Upcoming Events

Unoccupied Skies! Burin Solidarity Kite-Flying & Picnic | July 5

📅 Saturday July 5, 2025

📍 Location: Creekside Park

1455 Quebec Street Vancouver, BC V6A 3Z7

Since 2008, the village of Burin in the West Bank has held a kite festival almost every summer. The Burin Kite Festival is an act of peaceful resistance for residents struggling against both the harsh reality of Israel's illegal occupation and the unprecedented violence of settlers.

This year, in the face of ongoing genocide and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza to the West Bank, residents of Burin will once again host a multi-day festival celebrating Palestinian livelihood and culture.

In the words of organizers, the message of the festival is simple:

“We have the right to smile, we have the right to have fun. We have the right to be happy, we have the right to play, we have the right to move. From the Burin mountains to the sands of Gaza, they will not kill our hope and our smiles.”

Here on occupied, stolen, and unceded Coast Salish lands in so-called Vancouver, we'll answer the call for a global week of action by filling the sky with colourful kites of joyful resistance, in solidarity with Palestinians and with occupied peoples around the world.

Bring a picnic lunch and your own kite or register to reserve a kite at the event - all are welcome to participate!

There is no charge to attend the Creekside kite-flying event, however ...

Donations in solidarity with the Burin Kite Festival are welcome!

Your contributions to the 2025 Burin Kite Festival can be made here.

Free Coffee Free Palestine - VanGran4Pal meetup | July 13

📅 Sunday July 13th, 2025

📍 Location: Jonathan Rogers Park

11am-2pm

Come join us for Free Coffee, Free Palestine on July 13 🇵🇸☕️

VanGran4Pal is hosting this informal social to bring our neighbours together to meet, build connections, and learn more about ways to get involved with VanGran4Pal.

We’ll bring the coffee and snacks! If you have one, bring a reusable mug.

Families welcome!

Vancouver Spring Meeting | July 6

📅 Sunday, July 6 at 1 pm

📍 Location: VPL Kensington Branch

Join Spring’s Vancouver branch organizing meeting at the Vancouver Public Library Kensington Branch (1428 Cedar Cottage Mews)!

This meeting will be taking place on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

We will be discussing how to build a mass anti-war movement that can oppose a war on Iran and the genocide in Gaza, reporting back from the last month of activity, and organizing to support movements and struggles happening in our area.

This meeting is open to members and non-members who are interested in socialist organizing.

Masks mandatory. KN95s provided.

** Bake Sale & Raffle | July 19**

📆 Saturday, July 19

⏰ 12 - 4 pm

📍 Tahanan Studio, 310 East 5th

**free entry, cash preferred **

Hands, please! 🙌🏽 Calling all cats for volunteering or donations of raffle prizes or baked goods, please. 🎁 🐈‍⬛ 🍰

Contact @chardspice or @heyhaveyoueatenx to join up. All bakers welcome! You don’t have to be a pro chef, but a generous spirit, talent for snacks, and love for humanity is key. You got this!

It’ll be a great time! Please tell your friends!

Donation Campaigns

Evacuate Khalid and Ezdehar Now — Canada Must Act Before It’s Too Late

My name is Nariman Ajjur. I am a Palestinian mother living in Canada and the aunt of Khalid, a three-year-old boy in Gaza who was orphaned and injured in an Israeli airstrike.

On October 19, 2023, an airstrike killed his father — my brother Mohammed — and seven members of his mother’s family, including her father and four brothers.

Khalid and his mother Ezdehar were pulled from the rubble with physical injuries and shattered hearts. Khalid is traumatized, malnourished, and experiencing speech delays. He no longer smiles and often screams in fear. His mother, who sustained injuries in the same attack, is still waiting for surgery and proper medical treatment. They both need urgent evacuation and care before their situation worsens.

Khalid has spent most of his life under bombs , siege and displaced between tents and a small overcrowded apartment in Rafah, trying to survive relentless airstrikes, starvation, and grief.

I applied to bring Khalid, his mother, my elderly parents, and my siblings to safety in Canada through the Special Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) Program for Gaza, announced in December 2023. I submitted everything requested, including a temporary death certificate obtained in a war zone. All of them have been deemed eligible and have passed every stage of the application process, including background checks. And yet — more than 17 months later — none of them have been evacuated.

Despite repeated communication with both IRCC and Global Affairs Canada, I have received no clear support or resolution. I am living a constant nightmare of losing more members of my family — like so many other Palestinian Canadians already have while they are waiting Canada to act.

That’s why I, along with other Gazan Canadians, am organizing a sit-in at the IRCC office in Vancouver starting July 15. Similar actions will take place across Canada. We are taking this step because we’ve exhausted every other option — emails, calls, meetings, press conferences — and the Canadian government has not responded with action.

We demand:

• Immediate evacuation of Khalid and his mother Ezdehar under the TRV program — before his condition worsens.
• Faster processing and evacuation for families who are already approved, including my parents and siblings.
• Recognition of Gaza’s war conditions, which make it nearly impossible to produce formal documents like death certificates.

Khalid cannot wait any longer.

Please join me in calling on the Canadian government to act before it’s too late.

With urgency and heartbreak,

Nariman Ajjur

(Khalid’s Aunt)

Push the Canadian government to evacuate Feras from Gaza under starvation

My name is Omar. For two long years, I have begged the Canadian government to save my family from Gaza.

I have sat with officials in Ottawa. I have shown them every document. I have done every interview, filled out every form, passed every security check they asked for.

And yet — my family is still trapped in Gaza. Bombs over their heads. Hunger in their stomachs. Hope slipping away day by day while politicians pretend to care.

Last year, my sister Rasha got cancer. I fought to get her out through the World Health Organization because Canada refused to help. She is safe now — but my brother Feras is next. He has a severe heart condition. He could die any minute. There are no hospitals, no treatment, no medicine left in Gaza for him.

With him are my father Mansour, an old man who has known nothing but war and loss, and my sister Miad, who stays by their side in the ruins of our home.

Nearby are my other sisters — Dina and her three children: Mira, Bashar, and Fares.

And Rube, with her husband and their kids, Jude and Adam.

All of them have passed Canada’s so-called Gaza Special Immigration Measures Program. All security cleared. All eligible. But not one evacuation.

Countries around the world have saved thousands of Gazans — but Canada announced this program for headlines, and then left us to die for votes.

💔 This is not a policy failure. This is abandonment.

And I refuse to watch my brother take his last breath while Canada turns its back.

👉 This July, I am camping in front of Parliament in Ottawa — and I will not leave until my family is brought to safety.

I will sleep on the street if I must. I will fight until they coordinate with Israeli authorities and get my family OUT.

But I can’t do it alone.

I need you.

Sign our petition.

Share our story.

Stand with me on Parliament Hill if you can.

Speak my family’s names: Feras, Miad, Mansour.

Remind Canada they are human beings — not paperwork.

If we stay silent, my brother will die waiting.

📍 July — Parliament Hill, Ottawa

📢 Join me. Bring your tents, your signs, your voices. Be the pressure they can’t ignore.

Follow my fight and share my updates:

👉 Instagram: @omarinvancouver

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With gratitude and in solidarity,

Your Neighbours

Van Gran 4 Palestine

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